Mother of Little Bears
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: Perona adopts a pair of baby bears. Mihawk is not happy. (Post-timeskip. Mihawk/Perona pairing.)
1. Discovery of Little Bears

**DISCLAIMER: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.**

~ Mother of Little Bears ~

When Perona walked into the castle with two brown bear cubs in her arms, Mihawk's first reaction was predictably: "Put those back where you found them."

Equally predicable was Perona's retort.

"I don't have to and you can't make me!"

Hollows swarmed protectively around the ghost princess. One of the baby bears whimpered as she hugged them more tightly against herself.

"Perona," the warlord said sternly. "You can't keep them."

As he strode toward her, the hollows parted to make way for him. They were useless against him unless she could pull off a surprise attack, since he could deflect them with haki.

Upon reaching her, Mihawk plucked one of the bears from the ghost girl's grasp. It whined and reached out its paws toward her, almost more like a-

The warlord's eyes widened as the realization hit him. He altered his grip, cradling the tiny bear close to his chest. It immediately calmed down and snuggled against him.

"Perona," he said sharply. "These aren't wild animals. They are baby minks."

Her expression changed to one of nearly comical shock at this revelation, before hardening into the same look of stubborn determination which she had previously worn.

"And before you start claiming that they are _your_ babies and you want to keep them-" Because of course she would. "-we need to look for their parents."

"But-" Perona started to protest, the words dying in her throat as she caught sight of the way Mihawk was glaring at her.

"Where did you find them?" he inquired tersely.

She swallowed before replying, "At the beach."

Mihawk frowned. If she'd found them along the coastline of the island, that could mean any number of things. If they were able to walk, it was possible they'd merely wandered away from their parents, but it seemed more likely that they'd either been shipwrecked or purposely abandoned.

"Show me exactly where you found them."

Perona grumbled as she led him to the spot where she'd found the bears, but she didn't do anything to defy his order or try to reclaim the baby that Mihawk had taken from her.

Although they searched the shore thoroughly, they found no signs of a shipwreck, or a mother or father bear, or any kind of evidence as to how the babies had ended up there.

"So... this means we're keeping them, right?" Perona asked, as they made their way back toward the castle.

He sighed heavily and began to walk faster, avoiding both his companion and her question.

She caught up to him and tugged on his sleeve.

"Mihawk?"

The warlord sighed again, glancing down at the baby bear sleeping peacefully in his arms. Perona's slim, delicate fingers wrapped around his bicep, anchoring her to his side as she floated along beside him. Apparently she had given up on trying to keep up with him the normal way and decided to cheat using her Devil Fruit powers.

"Of course we're going to take care of them-" Her squeal of delight at this pronouncement caused him to scowl as he continued, "- _until_ we find out where their proper home is."

If they had actually been wild animals, it would have been a different story. But that was not the case, and he wasn't cruel enough to abandon infant children that were unable to fend for themselves.

"And if we _don't_ find it?" she persisted. "We're going to keep them, right?"

"Perona..." Mihawk groaned. "Don't get attached. We are _not_ keeping them."

Her fingers tightened, digging into his flesh harshly. A moment later, the pressure on his arm was gone.

"You're mean! I hate you!"

Mihawk suppressed the urge to sigh again. It felt like that was all he was doing lately. Honestly, how did she expect him to react to her assertion that she wanted to keep the bears when she was being so childish about it at every turn? Not to mention that she didn't seem to realize that keeping them meant she would be raising _children_ , not pets.

"I am _not_ being mean," he snapped. " _You_ are the one who isn't taking this seriously."

The bear in Perona's arms gave an unhappy whine.

"Shh, Teddy, don't cry," she cooed, cuddling the baby. "Mihawk didn't mean to scare you."

"You _named_ them already?"

"Of course," Perona answered, frowning. "They can't tell us what their names are, and we have to call them something. So I named them Teddy and Ursula. Aren't those names the cutest?"

Mihawk cringed internally at the ghost princess's choice of names.

"Something regal would be more suited to them than a 'cute' name. They aren't pets, you know."

"I _know_ ," she growled. "But they're still bears. Bears are cute, and cute baby bears need cute names!"

"They won't be babies forever," Mihawk argued. "And besides that, Ursula is a female name, but this one-" He indicated the cub in his arms. "-is also a boy."

Sensing that a compromise might be best here in order to get what she wanted, Perona said, "Well, what do you want to call him, then?"

It was at this point that they reached the castle. Mihawk shifted his hold so that the baby was cradled securely in one arm, while he used his free hand to open the door.

Once they were inside, Perona turned to him with a curious expression.

"Well, did you have a name in mind, or...?"

"I was thinking Damcyan would make a good name."

Perona thought that name sounded stuck-up and awful, but rather than voicing her opinion, she quietly went along with it.

~to be continued~


	2. Hungry Little Bears

~ Mother of Little Bears ~

Further conversation was forestalled by the baby bear in Perona's arms (the one named Teddy... as long as Mihawk didn't decide to rename him as well) starting to cry again. Perona cuddled the baby bear and shushed him, but he only responded by crying louder.

"What's wrong?" she asked, an edge of panic to her voice.

"Maybe he's uncomfortable with the way you're holding him, or hungry, or frightened of being in a new place."

The blank look of shock she gave him at this pronouncement confirmed his earlier assumption that the ghost princess didn't know the first thing about childcare. And while Mihawk was _aware_ of what the basics of it were, the warlord himself had no practical experience in looking after small children, either.

Scowling, Perona shifted her hold on Teddy so that she was cradling the baby bear in the same way as Mihawk held the other one. Despite his brother's cries, Damcyan was still sleeping peacefully, so the warlord must be doing something right.

Once in the new position, Teddy promptly chomped Perona's boob.

Mihawk forced himself to hold back his laughter as he stated, "He must be hungry, then."

"It's not funny!" Perona snapped. "Ow, his teeth are sharp. Teddy, stop biting me. We'll give you some food."

"Some milk, anyway. I don't know if they're old enough for solid food yet."

"They have teeth!"

"If they're still nursing, it's unlikely they've transitioned entirely to solid food yet. Anyway, why don't you use your Devil Fruit power to keep him from biting you?"

"Ah, right." She hadn't even thought of it until he mentioned it, but dematerializing her chest was a simple task which resolved the issue. It had the additional effect of halting Teddy's crying. Frowning (as much a bear can frown, anyway), the baby tentatively swiped a paw at Perona's chest, looking utterly baffled when it simply passed through her instead of meeting solid flesh. His bafflement was only compounded when he put his paw on her shoulder, and discovered that part of her was still solid.

A few moments passed in silence as they continued walking. Mihawk was halfway to the castle's kitchen before Perona finally caught on to what he'd meant with the comments about milk and nursing. She gave an indignant squawk as she caught up with him.

Mihawk quirked an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment on the strange noise she'd made as he held the kitchen door open and gestured for her to go in ahead of him.

Perona hovered awkwardly just inside the door as Mihawk went over to a cupboard. He opened it and reached in to take out some cups. After taking out the first one, he went to transfer it to his other hand, frowning when he remembered that his left arm was full of baby bear. He set the cup on the counter instead, and got a second down. He set that one down on the counter next to the other, then picked them both up together by grabbing them where the rims touched.

Perona noticed the strange way that he was carrying the cups with his fingers shoved awkwardly down inside them, and wondered why he didn't just ask her to hold Damcyan while he finished what he was doing. But apparently he was determined to do it by himself while holding the baby.

She scowled as she watched him set the cups on the kitchen table, then turn to the fridge to get out the milk. He awkwardly pushed the refrigerator door shut with his elbow after retrieving the milk carton from inside.

 _Really, this would be so much easier if he would just ask me to help_ , she fumed internally as he set the carton on the table and fumbled one-handedly to get it open. She was seriously considering just going over there and holding it down for him so he could get the spout unfolded when, apparently fed up with wrestling the carton top, Mihawk let go of it and drew the concealed dagger that hung around his neck.

 _He's **not** going to_-

He proceeded to stab the carton with it... just once, carefully.

 _I can't believe he just did that! It seems more like something that green-haired idiot would have done._

Mihawk wiped the blade of the dagger against his thigh before re-sheathing it, then picked up the carton and attempted to pour milk into one of the cups. It didn't work out so well for him. The milk flowed out through the slit he'd created in the container perfectly well. It was the angle from which he poured it that was the problem. That, along with the fact that there was nothing (for example, anyone's hand) to stabilize the cup as it was being filled, which led to it tipping over.

Milk went all over the table. The cup rolled over the edge of the table and clattered to the floor, splashing milk across the stone... and also onto the warlord's boots.

Upon witnessing this event, Teddy began to cry once more - which had the unfortunate side effect of bringing the ghost princess to the warlord's attention once more.

"Perona!" Mihawk snapped. "Don't just stand there staring! Come over here and help me."

"Maybe I would if you _asked_ me, instead of _ordering_ me to!"

~to be continued~


	3. Feeding the Little Bears

~ Mother of Little Bears ~

Mihawk couldn't believe what he was hearing. This girl really thought she could act as a parent to babies when she was little more than a self-centered child herself? (Although she liked to remind him of her age whenever he accused her of such, the number of years she'd been alive was hardly an indicator of her maturity level.) And already she seemed to have forgotten that she was a _guest_ in his home.

Normally, Mihawk would be content to let this become a battle of wills, but there was more to consider than Perona's general lack of manners. The well-being of the children had to be his first priority.

Milk splashed under his boots as he stomped over to where the ghost princess was standing. She stood her ground, glaring at him defiantly even when faced with the warlord's apparent wrath.

Not bothering to try to make himself heard over the baby's crying, Mihawk reached out with his free hand. His scowl deepened when Perona flinched at his action. He took hold of her shoulder and gently yet firmly guided her over to one of the chairs. His hand dropped from her shoulder as he pulled the chair away from the table. Perona sat without waiting for him to physically guide her into doing so, for which Mihawk was relieved.

Once she was seated, he deposited the second baby bear in her lap. Damcyan, who had been sleeping peacefully until now, chose this moment to wake up. For a moment, Mihawk was afraid that the crying was about to become a discordant duet, but even with Teddy wailing vociferously next to him, Damcyan seemed far more interested in attempting to steal Perona's hat than in anything else that was going on in the kitchen.

Not bothering to clean up the mess, Mihawk returned to the task of preparing cups of milk for the baby bears - a task made much simpler by the fact that he was now able to freely use both of his hands.

Getting the baby bears to drink the milk was another trial. Damcyan was still more interested in stealing Perona's hat than anything else and showed no interest in the cup of milk, even after Mihawk settled the matter by taking the hat and putting it on the little bear's head. Teddy, who very much _did_ want the milk, could not seem to grasp the concept of drinking from a cup and more milk ended up on both the kitchen floor and Perona's lap than ended up inside the baby bear.

"I think they're too little to drink out of regular cups," Perona said, trying not to get too upset over the copious amount of milk that was currently soaking through her skirt. "They need a bottle, or at least one of those kiddie sippy cups."

Mihawk sighed.

"Yes, so it would appear... however, I have nothing of the sort on hand." After a brief pause, and considereing that perhaps Perona knew more about caring for babies than he personally did, Mihawk added, "What would you suggest?"

"Well..." Perona said slowly. "We should get some of those things, so we can feed them properly."

The warlord tried valiantly to keep his temper after receiving this response.

"Yes, obviously that would be the solution. You _do_ realize that we are on an island and it will take up to a week for one of us to make a trip for supplies. Even if I were to call and have them delivered from the next nearest island, it will be several days _at the very least_ before the proper items are available to us. So, I am asking if you have any solution as to what we should do about this problem in the short term, until then?"

Mihawk silently congratulated himself on getting all that out without showing all of the frustration that he was currently feeling.

Perona's brow furrowed as she considered the situation and what could possibly be done about it. After a few long moments, during which Teddy began to whine and reach for the second cup of milk which Mihawk was still holding, she finally came up with an answer.

"We could try feeding them from a spoon?" she put forth uncertainly.

Mihawk wasn't certain of how viable a solution that would be, but he had no better ideas himself, so he decided it wouldn't hurt to try it. He went to get a spoon and also poured the milk from the cup into a bowl (for easier spooning) while he was at it.

While he was doing that, Teddy's whining escalated into cranky, impatient cries once more. Mihawk turned around just in time to see Damcyan throw Perona's hat onto the floor. It landed in a puddle of milk. At this turn of events, the second baby bear joined his brother in crying, and the ghost princess looked very much as though she might burst into tears herself at any moment.

~to be continued~


End file.
